About this Thematic Cluster

Tourism has the potential to advance all SDGs through the optimization of the utilization of environmental resources, providing long-term social and economic support to host communities. But tourism has also been one of the most hard-hit sectors during the COVID-19 crisis. At the height of the pandemic, 89 percent of the countries partially or fully closed their World Heritage sites to visitors (UNESCO, 2020).

2021 expects to witness continued impact by COVID-19 on global tourism, including a decrease of 87% in international tourist arrivals that have occurred in January 2021 compared to January 2020 (UNWTO, 2021). Countries dependent on tourism industries will continue t0 suffer losses of revenue due to the lack of sufficient alternative livelihood opportunities.

Starting from 2020, the Cities Project has organized webinars and exchanges to facilitate knowledge sharing, interactions between and among cities and their mutual learning, as well as forging collaboration and partnership. The Cities Project also organized the ‘Travel South over the Cloud’ series with four webinars focusing on knowledge sharing, exchanges, and learnings on the role of digitalization in facilitating the growth and recovery of the tourism sector, with particular attention to the following aspects: technological innovations, tourism e-commerce, creative economy, and Word Heritage Cities. In 2021, the Cities Project organized online exchanges between Southern cities to explore potential cooperation and kickstart partnership building. In the same year, the Cities Project, in partnership with UNESCO Mexico and the Mexican World Heritage Cities Association (MWHCA or ANCMPM), launched a pilot project on South-South and Triangular Cooperation in Sustainable Tourism in Mexico.